Gop Strength Increases Among Broward Voters

Republicans registered gains among Broward County voters, but not enough to dent the stronghold Democrats have in the county, figures released on Tuesday indicate.

The number of voters registered as Republicans grew by half a percentage point since the September primary, from 35.4 percent to 35.9 percent, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office. The number of Democrats decreased during the same period from 56.6 percent to 56.1 percent.

Overall, the number of voters registered for the Nov. 8 general election is 672,411 -- an increase of 4.4 percent from the 644,088 registered for the primary.

Of the total, 376,944 are registered as Democrats, 241,397 as Republicans and 54,070 as other. This gives the Democrats a 3-2 advantage over Republicans.

Democratic domination in the ranks of registered voters has dropped 3.5 percent in the last decade, while the Republican ranks have grown 2.1 percent. In 1978, Democrats made up 59.6 percent of registered voters, while Republicans made up 33.8 percent.

Nonetheless, the figures released on Tuesday show that more Democrats than Republicans are registered in all three congressional districts in the county, all six state Senate districts and 12 of 14 state House districts.

Other trends:

- The number of registered black voters grew 4.9 percent since the primary, from 56,179 to 58,906. Blacks now make up 8.76 percent of Broward`s voters, an increase from 8.72 percent in the primary.

- People registering as other than Democrats or Republicans grew 6.9 percent -- the largest percentage increase of any group -- from 50,554 to 54,070.

- Women continue to make up the majority of voters, even though the number of men registering as new voters outpaced the number of women registering as new voters.